A 44-year-old woman who once described herself as a ‘crisp addict’ has successfully shed half her body weight, reaching this milestone without resorting to weight loss injections or trendy diets.

Lisa Bernett, hailing from Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire, used to indulge in four bags of crisps daily, along with two weekly takeaways costing her £50, and large servings of cheesy pasta.

At her peak weight, Lisa tipped the scales at 20 stone and 5 pounds, wore a UK size 24, and found it challenging to climb stairs without losing her breath.

She confessed that her weight gain was largely due to a poor diet and a lack of nutritional knowledge, admitting, “I didn’t realize that a whole bag of crisps with dip could account for my entire daily food allowance.”

Motivated by her husband’s decision to embark on his own weight loss journey, Lisa decided to join him in making lifestyle changes.

Determined to avoid weight loss injections like Mounjaro and disillusioned by previously failed fad diets, Lisa turned to calorie counting with the help of the MyNetDiary app.

Within two years of starting her journey, she had dropped from a size 24 to a size 8, shedding 10st 5lbs in total simply by changing her diet and exercising. 

Lisa said she did not want to turn to jabs because she doesn’t ‘believe it teaches you about fat loss or educating yourself about food’.

Lisa Bernett, 44, weighed 20st 5lbs at her heaviest and found herself struggling to get up the stairs

She admitted that she used to eat four bags of crisps a day, heavy cheesy pasta, and takeaways that cost her £50 a week

But since she began using a calorie counting app and increased exercise, Lisa has lost half her body weight and shrunk to a UK size 8

‘It’s a good tool to have but if you have no other tools then how will you keep it off?’ she questioned.

‘There’s no way I would want to stay on injections for the rest of my life in the fear that if I stop I’ll gain. I also didn’t feel comfortable going down the surgery route.’

Lisa added: ‘When my husband said he wanted to lose weight that set the bells off.

‘I didn’t want him to be smaller than me, I’m quite old-fashioned and I thought, “If he’s smaller me than he can’t protect me”.’

Recalling her lifestyle before losing weight, Lisa said she did not do any exercise and would go about her day taking the children to school, going to work, and then ‘come home and sit on my backside’.

She admitted: ‘Walking, going up the stairs, it was hard. My knees hurt and I got out of breath really quickly.

‘Thankfully, I never had any health issues, but I got chest infections quite a lot.’

Lisa, who runs a funeral directors, says she wanted to avoid weight loss injections and surgery, and had previously tried fad diets without success

When Lisa’s husband said he wanted to lose weight, it set off ‘bells’ in her as she did not want to be bigger than him

Lisa says calorie counting has helped her ‘reeducate’ herself about food and nutrition

She knew that her diet was the first thing she had to address, as it was ‘poor’. 

‘I wouldn’t ever eat breakfast. Lunchtime I’d either eat loads of pasta with cheese, or I’d have lots of bagels with cheese,’ she said.

‘For a snack I’d have a whole bag of crisps with a dip – I didn’t realise a whole bag of and a dip was probably my whole daily allowance for food.

‘I’d have a takeaway twice a week and big portions of home cooked meals. I always had to finish my plates.’

But using the calorie app has helped Lisa to ‘reeducate’ herself about food, she said, adding that she now knows  ‘when I’m going to lose weight and when I’m not’.

Using the app has allowed her to continue eating bigger portions, but she now prioritises protein and fibre to improve her nutritional intake. 

She swapped cheesy pasta for jacket potato with grilled chicken and salad; got into an exercise regime of 10,000 steps a day at the start; started going to the gym regularly; and sticks to a calorie goal each day.

The upheaval in her diet and exercise routines has helped her shed the pounds, and now Lisa said she is able to pick ‘anything’ off the clothing rack – a far cry from the days when she ‘hated’ shopping.

Lisa said she now enjoys shopping at size 8, but recalled how difficult it was to start a gym routine because she was ‘overwhelmed’

She still eats large portions but focuses on protein and fibre, as well as sticking to a calorie goal

Lisa says that she has noticed people around her have ‘changed’ since she lost weight, and strangers are ‘nicer’ to her now

She said that while her portions remain big, they are filled with calorie-dense foods.

‘I prioritise my protein goal, fiber goal and a calorie goal. As long as I hit these goals then it doesn’t matter about my fat and carbs,’ she explains.

‘As soon as you cut out food, your body wants it. When people say they’re going to have 1,200 calories, it’s not sustainable and then you binge over the weekend.’

Incorporating a gym routine into her new lifestyle was not easy to start with, Lisa said, as she found it ‘overwhelming’ to walk into the gym and think that everyone was looking at her. 

‘I got a gym membership, and I walked in and it was so overwhelming. You feel like everyone’s looking at you and I ran out crying.

‘So I got a PT, and I had him for three or four months. I liked the boxing part of it so I started Muay Thai which I did three times a week – sometimes five times a week.

‘Now I’m at another place where I have gym sessions and do martial arts every morning.

‘I do that Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then on Tuesday and Thursday I go to gym and do weights.’

When she first started her weight loss journey, Lisa walked 10,000 steps a day and now she walks 20,000 steps a day

She has also upped her step count goals, after walking 10,000 steps a day for three months, and now does 20,000 steps a day.

But the one thing Lisa said she has noticed since losing weight is that the people around her have ‘changed’ their attitudes towards her. 

She explained: ‘A lot of people didn’t think I’d stick to it, and I get that as I’d probably think the same thing. I know there are other people who are waiting for me to put the weight back on.

‘People change when you lose weight,’ she lamented. ‘I’m not that fat friend anymore and everyone likes to have a fat friend.’

She also noticed that strangers are ‘nicer’ to her now that she has lost weight.

‘I eat properly during the week so I know I can have a big plate of food at a restaurant on Saturday, and I don’t feel like people are watching or judging me, but if I was big, they’d be judging me.’

However, Lisa now feels much more confident being in photos than she used to.

‘I used to hide in the back in photos, now I want to be in the front – I love it.’

Her advice for others looking to lose weight is to ‘take accountability’.

‘Not everyone’s perfect,’ she said. ‘Even on the days you find hard, and you want to reach out for something bad, do it, but weigh it and take accountability, then rein it back in the following day.’